An isolated supercell thunderstorm produced localized wind damage, large hail, and a brief tornado over Barry County. Other strong storms in the area produced heavy rainfall and a deadly lightning strike which killed some livestock.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS SGF wrote it up.
An isolated supercell thunderstorm produced localized wind damage, large hail, and a brief tornado over Barry County. Other strong storms in the area produced heavy rainfall and a deadly lightning strike which killed some livestock.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Springfield, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 17, 2:23 PM CST, 3 hours 24 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO 323 PM CDT SAT SEP 17 2011 .DISCUSSION... THE MAIN SHORT TERM FORECAST CONCERNS WILL CONTINUE TO BE RAIN CHANCES AND AMOUNTS AS A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM SLOWLY MOVES EAST ACROSS THE REGION. TEMPERATURES WILL ALSO BE TRICKY DUE TO THE EXPECTED CLOUDS AND PRECIPITATION...AS WELL AS A NORTHEASTWARD ADVANCING WARM FRONT. EARLY NEXT WEEK THEN LOOKS QUIET...BEFORE ANOTHER SYSTEM IMPACTS THE REGION AROUND MIDWEEK. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE BEEN PREVALENT ACROSS THE REGION TODAY...WITH MANY LOCATIONS RECEIVING MUCH NEEDED RAINFALL. THE HEAVIEST RAIN HAS FALLEN ACROSS FAR SOUTHWEST MISSOURI WHERE RAIN GAUGES AND RADAR ESTIMATES INDICATE A SOLID TWO TO THREE INCHES IN THE LAST 12 HOURS. THIS ACTIVITY HAS BEEN GENERATED IN RESPONSE TO A LOW LEVEL JET OVERRIDING A SURFACE WARM FRONT. AS OF MID AFTERNOON...THIS WARM FRONT WAS SLOWLY MOVING NORTHEAST ACROSS CENTRAL AND EASTERN OKLAHOMA. THIS WARM FRONT WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE NORTHEAST TONIGHT AND SUNDAY...LIKELY GETTING NORTH OF THE MISSOURI OZARKS BY LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THAT LOW LEVEL JET WILL INTENSIFY AND REFOCUS SLIGHTLY FURTHER NORTH AND WEST TONIGHT. THUS THINK THE MOST WIDESPREAD RAINFALL WILL OCCUR FROM EASTERN KANSAS INTO CENTRAL AND NORTHERN MISSOURI. HAVE TAPERED POPS FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST ACCORDINGLY. THAT LOW LEVEL JET WILL THEN VEER OVER THE AREA ON SUNDAY WITH AN UPPER LEVEL SHORT WAVE TROUGH APPROACHING FROM THE WEST. ADDITIONALLY...INSTABILITY WILL INCREASE ACROSS THE REGION SOUTH OF THAT WARM FRONT. THEREFORE THINK THE PROSPECTS FOR CONTINUED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LOOK VERY GOOD. A FEW OF THE MORE VIGOROUS UPDRAFTS MAY PUT DOWN SOME SMALL HAIL OR GUSTY WINDS. SOME LOCATIONS MAY ALSO PICK UP ANOTHER INCH OR GREATER OF RAINFALL. TEMPERATURES WILL BE HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON HOW QUICKLY THAT WARM FRONT CAN CLEAR THE AREA...WITH CLOUDS AND PRECIPITATION ALSO PLAYING A BIG ROLE. GENERALLY WENT WITH A MODEL CONSENSUS FOR TEMPERATURES...BUT DID INCREASE THE OVERALL TEMPERATURE GRADIENT FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST. A COLD FRONT WILL THEN SLOWLY PUSH SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE REGION FROM SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN LIKELY AHEAD OF THE FRONT...WITH MOST AREAS FINALLY BEGINNING TO DRY OUT BY MONDAY EVENING. THE AIRMASS BEHIND THIS FRONT WILL NOT BE MUCH COOLER WITH TEMPERATURES NEAR NORMAL. LONG WAVE CHARTS AND MEDIUM RANGE MODELS THEN KEEP US FIRMLY ENTRENCHED IN A NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT THROUGH THE END OF NEXT WEEK. THE 12Z GFS AND ECMWF HAVE AT LEAST SOMEWHAT CONVERGED ON THE TIMING OF AN INCOMING UPPER LEVEL TROUGH TOWARDS THE MIDWEEK TIME FRAME. BOTH MODELS THEN CLOSE OFF AN UPPER LEVEL LOW SOMEWHERE ACROSS THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES BY THE END OF NEXT WEEK. AM NOT SURE HOW MUCH QUALITY MOISTURE WILL BE AVAILABLE TO THIS INCOMING TROUGH. DO THINK WE WILL AT LEAST STAND A CHANCE OF A FEW SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AS AN ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT PUSHES THROUGH THE AREA. TEMPERATURES BEHIND THIS FRONT WILL FALL TO BELOW NORMAL VALUES. SCHAUMANN && .AVIATION... FOR THE 18Z TAFS... MESSY NEXT 24 HOURS FOR THE TERMINALS...AS WIDESPREAD SHRA/TSRA AFFECT THE AREA. IFR CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AT JLN AND BBG...WITH MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN RESULTING IN LOW VIS AND CIGS. IFR POTENTIAL RIGHT NOW AT SGF IS QUESTIONABLE...AND HAVE JUST MAINTAINED MVFR FOR NOW. BY LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING...EXPECT TO SEE A SHORT LIVED BREAK IN THE RA/TSRA...ALONG WITH SOME CLEARING...LIKELY TO VFR FOR A SHORT TIME. LATER TONIGHT...A STRONG LOW LEVEL JET WILL DEVELOP OVER THE REGION...RESULTING IN LLWS AT ALL TERMINALS...AS WELL AS TSRA DEVELOPMENT OVERNIGHT. TSRA WILL THEN PERSIST FOR MUCH OF THE DAY SUNDAY. HAVE ONLY TAKEN THE TERMINALS DOWN TO MVFR FOR NOW...BUT COMBINATION OF TSRA AND BR SUNDAY MAY WELL RESULT IN IFR CONDITIONS. IFR WILL BE INCLUDED IN LATER TAFS FOR SUNDAY IF CONFIDENCE CONTINUES TO INCREASE IN THIS SCENARIO. BOXELL && .SGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MO...NONE. KS...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO 231 PM CDT SAT SEP 17 2011 KSZ073-097-101-MOZ055>058-066>071-077>083-088>098-101>106-181945- BOURBON-CRAWFORD-CHEROKEE-BENTON-MORGAN-MILLER-MARIES-VERNON- ST. CLAIR-HICKORY-CAMDEN-PULASKI-PHELPS-BARTON-CEDAR-POLK-DALLAS- LACLEDE-TEXAS-DENT-JASPER-DADE-GREENE-WEBSTER-WRIGHT-NEWTON- LAWRENCE-CHRISTIAN-DOUGLAS-HOWELL-SHANNON-MCDONALD-BARRY-STONE- TANEY-OZARK-OREGON- 231 PM CDT SAT SEP 17 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF THE MISSOURI OZARKS AND EXTREME SOUTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. WEATHER HAZARDS EXPECTED... SIGNIFICANT LIGHTNING RISK. LIMITED FLOODING RISK. DISCUSSION... WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE REGION THROUGH EARLY EVENING. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN MAY RESULT IN VERY MINOR FLOODING...ESPECIALLY ACROSS EXTREME SOUTHEASTERN KANSAS AND SOUTHWESTERN MISSOURI. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE SUNDAY AS AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE AND FRONT MOVE THROUGH THE AREA. A FEW OF THE STRONGER STORMS ON SUNDAY WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING GUSTY WINDS AND SMALL HAIL. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS WILL THEN BE POSSIBLE DURING THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK AS ANOTHER SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH THE REGION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT. && THIS PRODUCT IS NOW AVAILABLE IN GRAPHICAL FORMAT...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION...AT HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/SGF(ALL LOWERCASE) BOXELL
The Springfield radar (KSGF), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:44 UTC.
1 heavy rain, 1 lightning, 1 hail, 1 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A weather observer measured over four inches of rainfall during an eight hour time period with unspecified minor flooding reported.
A local newspaper reported a lightning strike killed 62 steers near Pennsboro. The livestock were standing near a tree which was struck by the lightning bolt.
A local church reported quarter sized hail.
A trained weather spotter and volunteer fire department saw a brief touchdown of a tornado across Highway 90 near the intersection of Highway NN. No damage was reported with this brief touchdown as it was over an open field. Local fire department and law enforcement witnessed this brief tornado in open areas along with funnel clouds reported with this same storm.
A tree was reported down off Highway 90 southwest of Washburn.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Missouri, 2011Warnings in Missouri, September 2011
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 336530, 347585, 336528, 343562, 336532.